David Bordwell's "Classical Hollywood Cinema" and Cinema Paradiso

             Though Cinema Paradiso adheres to particular aspects of David Bordwell’s “Classical Hollywood Cinema: Narrational Principles and Procedures”, many significant characteristics of classical Hollywood cinema are missing, so I would argue that Cinema Paradiso does not conform to classical Hollywood guidelines.

            One of Bordwell’s key principles is that a protagonist drives the story.  This is clearly the case in Cinema Paradiso; however I would argue that most characteristics in this film differ than those of classical Hollywood.

            Bordwell places an emphasis on “straight corridor narrative.”  Cinema Paradiso violates this narrative linearity because it tells Salvatore Di Vita’s life in the form of a flashback.  The flashback is a modern Hollywood technique which violates Bordwell’s “straight corridor” theory. In the exposition, Salvatore is a grown man, and he receives a phone call from his mother informing him that Alfredo, his mentor and father figure, has died.  Upon learning this, we flash back to his childhood, to his experiences with Alfredo. Though director Giuseppe Tornatore extensively uses flashbacks in the movie, he still follows Bordwell’s ideas of causality.   The phone call causes protagonist Salvatore Da Vita to recall his relationship with Alfredo, so right after the phone call Tornatore cuts to Salvatore’s childhood.

            Another momentous characteristic of classical Hollywood film is to present tow plot lines, one of which is a heterosexual love story.  In Cinema Paradiso, there are definitely two plot lines; however, neither main plot line follows the Hollywood standard of a heterosexual love story.  There is a love story that exists between Salvatore and Alfredo.  It is not a sexual or romantic relationship, but it plays a key role in the movie.  Alfredo is the person who introduces Salvatore to film, and he is also the only person who consistently respects and cares for Salvatore when Salvatore is young.  Salvatore’s adoration for Alfredo is clear when he fakes an injury just to ride along with Alfredo.  Salvatore beams with happiness and asks Alfredo question after question about life.  Tornatore juxtaposes Salvatore’s troubles in the real world with Alfredo’s care.  This is clear when Salvatore’s mother hits him after he causes the fire.  His mother hits him, but Alfredo comforts him and teaches him more about film and movies.  Another clear example of this is when Salvatore is in school, the teacher hits the students, and students ridicule each other.  Salvatore tries to help the situation, but he ends up being helpless.  He goes straight to Alfredo after school, and Alfredo lets him watch the movie being shown.

At age eight, movies have already provided Salvatore with a medium of escape, and thus the second plot line has begun.  Whenever Salvatore has any free time, whether it is after school or when he is supposed to be buying milk for his family, he sneaks to the cinema to see Alfredo, watch movies, and learn about film.  Salvatore becomes dependent on movies as a constant in his life.  Alfredo teaches Salvatore valuable life lessons using film quotes.  First, he quotes the movie Fury in order to explain to Salvatore about mobs and mob mentalities.  Later, he quotes John Wayne to teach Alfredo about love.  Salvatore’s dependence on movies emerges again when describing his summer without Elena.  He talks about his life as a movie, using terms like shots and cuts.  He says that if he lived in a movie, the director could just cut to the end of summer and he would be with Elena already.  Tornatore includes this quotation to show the audience that movies are Salvatore’s first love.  Salvatore thinks in terms of movies and he cannot survive without them.

            One last important focus of Bordwell is on the “cliché happy ending.”  Though a case can be made for the ultimate closing scene of Cinema Paradiso as a happy ending, I would argue that the ending definitely contradicts classical Hollywood endings.  Most classical Hollywood films end with a romantic couple together on the screen, sometimes kissing; whereas, Cinema Paradiso ends with Alfredo’s funeral, and the destruction of the cinema.  Those two tragic events definitely clash with classical Hollywood endings.  After those events though, there is one dramatic, emotional embrace that occurs between Salvatore and film.  It is in this scene where Salvatore shows the most emotion of the entire film.  He realizes how much he loves film, and what a tremendous part film has played in his life.  The scenes on the movie screen are symbolic in this scene as well.  The movie shows clips of couples embracing, hugging, and kissing.  Although Salvatore has not ever had a long term relationship or wife, film has been his soul mate, and the intimacy of the lovers on camera mirrors the cherished relationship between Salvatore and film.  It is also worth nothing the inspiring music playing in the background during this scene.  By combining the music with Salvatore’s emotions, the audience can infer that Salvatore is blissful that he made the choices he did, namely committing to film rather than chasing Elena or pursuing other long term relationships.

On another note, during this closing scene, as the audience, we realize that the movie was a magnificent celebration of film.  Within the cinema, Tornatore makes sure that the camera pans across the whole audience to show viewers of all different ages and genders, and they all laugh, smile, roar, and cry together because the power of film unites them.